James Bond was real

James Bond was real

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A new history of the Secret Intelligence Service has revealed that one of James Bond's most famous scenes was inspired by the wartime exploits of an MI6 spy.

The moment when the fictional spy emerges from the water in a wetsuit and plants explosives before unzipping the suit to reveal a spotless dinner suit really took place during the Second World War.

The scene where Bond, played by Sean Connery, emerges in his wetsuit in the 1964 movie Goldfinger was inspired by the real life exploits of Dutch agent Pieter Tazelaar, according to MI6 by Keith Jeffery, the first official history of SIS.

Tazelaar was sent in by sea in 1940 to make contact with agents in Holland.

The book recounts that he 'put ashore at 4.35 am on November 23 at Scheveningen near the seafront casino in full evening dress and smelling of alcohol, wearing a specially designed rubber oversuit to keep him dry while landing,' reports the Daily Mail.

'Rather than leaving him somewhere on the dunes, the aim was for him to be able to mingle with the crowd on the front.

'Having landed on the beach his colleague Erik Hazelhof sprinkled a few drops of Hennessy XO brandy on him, to strengthen his party-goer's image.'

Professor Keith Jeffery, of Queen's University, Belfast, was given unrestricted access to the surviving historic files of the Secret Intelligence Service. But his work only covers the period up to 1949 and he was banned from revealing the identities of spies that are not already in the public domain.

The book also confirms that one of the templates for James Bond was another spy with the unpromising name of Wilfred 'Biffy' Dunderdale.

'When head of the SIS Paris station in the 1930s, he had a penchant for pretty women and fast cars and has been proposed as one of the possible models for Bond,' the book reports.

'He was a great friend of Ian Fleming and claimed that he found parts of his own stories in the James Bond novels.'

Another model for Bond's exploits might have been Air Commodore Lionel 'Lousy' Payne.

He was described in an SIS report as 'often well informed, probably due to the fact that information is more readily obtained in bed.'

Greatest Survival Movie Of All Time

Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, has been named the Greatest Survival Movie Of All Time.

The film topped the poll of more than 2,000 film fans, with 16 per cent of the vote.

It beat apocalyptic end of the world thrillers like Roland Emmerich's 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow.

Armageddon landed the second spot in the poll by DVD rental and streaming service Lovefilm, with 14 per cent.

Third on the list was 1975 classic Jaws, which tells the story of man pitted against nature in the form of a giant shark out for blood.

'When it comes to the survival of the human race, Hollywood directors like Roland Emmerich tend to go big on the visual effects and catastrophic storylines, so it's refreshing to see a story of a single man's survival quest taking top place in our best survival films list,' the Mirror quoted Helen Cowley, editor at Lovefilm, as saying.

The rest of the top 10 was completed by Touching The Void (2003), Alive (1993), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Mad Max (1979), Lord Of The Flies (1963), 2012 (2009) and War Of The Worlds (2005).